1. Field
This disclosure generally relates to the field of image capture. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a stabilization configuration for a receptacle for a mobile computing device that performs image capture.
2. General Background
Standard cameras typically allow for utilization of a tripod. For example, a photographer can place a standard camera on a tripod so that movement of the camera during image capture is minimized. The tripod allows a photographer using a standard camera to take pictures without using both hands to stabilize the camera.
Current mobile computing devices, e.g., tablet devices, smartphones, etc., provide image capture capabilities, e.g., still or motion, that are comparable with standard image capture devices such as standard cameras. Yet the picture quality from such mobile computing devices is often of a lesser quality than that of standard cameras as standard cameras provide users with firmer stabilization abilities than a mobile computing device. Users often have difficulty keeping the mobile computing device stable during image capture. The mobile computing device often wobbles during the image capture, which then results in pictures or videos that are often of a less than ideal quality.
Further, many applications utilized by mobile computing devices necessitate a particular orientation for image capture. For instance, many social networking applications configured for utilization by mobile computing devices will only display pictures in a particular format, e.g., a user has to scroll vertically rather than horizontally through pictures. A user has to take pictures in a manner consistent with that format to avoid having to crop the pictures. For example, the user would have to crop pictures taken with a mobile computing device horizontally for an application that displays those pictures vertically. The necessity of cropping and/or other image modification techniques may diminish the quality of the captured image.
Although the vertical format is necessary for image capture for many applications, the vertical format provides less stabilization for a user than the horizontal format. A user may have more difficulty stabilizing a mobile computing device vertically rather than horizontally as the vertical configuration has a lesser width for positioning of the hands of the user than the horizontal configuration. As a result, current mobile computing devices provide limited capabilities to photographers.
In addition, a user of current mounting configurations is typically unable to optimally utilize the mobile computing device for many, if not all, of the features provided by the mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is mounted, e.g., to a tripod. In other words, the mobile computing device is attached to a mounting configuration that prevents optimal user input, e.g., typing, swiping, etc., to navigate various applications provided by the mobile computing device. As a result, many users have to remove the mobile computing device from the mounting configuration to perform typical navigation of the applications provided by the mobile computing device. The user then has to remount the mobile computing device to the mounting configuration to perform image capture. Such a process of mounting, dismounting, and remounting the mobile computing device to and from the mounting configuration is a cumbersome process.
Further, such a process may lead to various inefficiencies. For example, a camera person may be performing image capture of scenes for a movie with the mobile computing device that is mounted to a tripod while also receiving communications from the director about the scenes. The camera person inefficiently may have to perform the process of dismounting the mobile computing device to answer such communications and then remount the mobile computing device to continue image capture. In other words, the image capture of the movie scenes may involve numerous interruptions that results from the mounting, dismounting, and remounting process. Such interruptions may diminish the quality of the media production.
Therefore, current mounting configurations for mobile computing devices are not adequate for performing both image capture and other mobile device functionality. A user has to either keep the mobile device mounted to the mounting configuration, which limits the usability of the mobile device for other functionality, or has to remove the mobile device from the mounted configuration, which removes the stabilization provided by the mounting configuration for accurate image capture.